Real sluggish start. Unforgivable to allow Love such open looks. Though they certainly haven’t been helped by some, uh, inconsistent refereeing so far. Signs of life though at least. And Lin still looks good.

Really think this is the type of game that Shump can make an impact in.

Opposing guards keep simplistically trying to deny his hand and they keep fouling. Last four games, they all think he has a weak hand and it’s backfiring.
Everyone playing them so far are getting into the penalty quickly

BILLY WALKER NO BASKETBALL IQ, CAN LIN TEACH HIM SOMETHING, seriously Lin is the real deal when you see how terrible the team is when he’s sitting. This disaster was occurring in the beginning of the 4th last night.

Shump is good on defense and is good at driving on offense, but he continues to take bad shots. Walker is a mess on offense and defense. Novak is a mess on defense. Bibby is a mess on offense and defense. Such a bad lineup.

daer god team can only sustain so long with scrubs, landry just awful turnover, shump chucking, billy walker…well nevermind. dear god, i at least like novak he doesn’t do anything majorly stupid. he’ll shoot when he’s open, passes when he’s not.

While I’m also a bit worried about how our starting 5 will gel together, this team is going to be massively improved when Melo and Stat come back (and hopefully JR signs) just by creating depth. I’m really interested to see how D’Antoni handles his rotations going forward.

Lin uncharacteristically risked it with the 24 seconds left, basically allowing the wolves to get 4 more points. Though terrible foul by Shump, Lin thought he had a higher % play by rushing allowed rubio to drive back, ugh. Wolves run the fast break pretty well.

i like that Lin was pissed after the half slammed the towel. lets see how he does from behind cause hes led since hes started playing. i think hes done great. the Knicks need to step it up not Lin. lets go guys and mda put novak in leave walker on the bench. put shumpert when they go small on the sf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lin uncharacteristically risked it with the 24 seconds left, basically allowing the wolves to get 4 more points. Though terrible foul by Shump, Lin thought he had a higher % play by rushing allowed rubio to drive back, ugh. Wolves run the fast break pretty well.

Good point. When even Lin is making dumb decisions, then you know things are going bad. Still, eight point deficit is not impossible to overcome.

none of these guys besides novak can get hot behind the 3, so we really need novak to win this game really, because it’s going be tough to stop them. We’re going to need a flurry of 3’s, maybe Bibsanity?!

the knicks will come out strong in the second half. A game like this is good for Lin. Matching up against another young phenom (rubio). The anger Lin showed at the end of the half shows how much he cares. Let’s hope he channels it in the right direction in the second half. Having said that, I can’t wait to have STAT back. I’m getting tired of seeing Walker throw up ugly shot after ugly shot.

I really like Rubio’s game. Brian, you are right. The lineup at this time is awful. I am usually so negative during the games, my wife asks (demands) me to leave the room. I usually do and read Science Fiction, which this is anyway. We do have a couple of pretty good guys on the mend and will be back soon. Also, I thought Minnesota has played great. Keep the faith and, if the Knicks lose, the G Men lost to the Skins twice. I was major bummed, but you know what happened. Learn from it and move on. Right? In Lin we trust.

if the refs would not call all of these bullshit calls this would be a fun game to watch. so far this has been nothing but stressful. were playing 6 against 8. 5 players and three refs. this game has definitely been bought by Vegas

Lin is gassed. He needs to go into pure distributor mode for the rest of the game. I want to see Shump drives and Novak 3s. And, apparently, whatever Jeffries wants to do, because he’s apparently an offensive threat now.

Wow. We had NO business winning that game. Love killed us as always, that center was a freaking brute and Lin had no legs at all, but we hung around, hung around, and then Shump Shump and Novak somehow brought us back.

and my man Shump Shump was awesome, credited with 4 steals but certainly had more (if you deflect the ball off Barea as he’s driving and he regains it out of bounds, that should be a steal), and some huge shots when they had no one to step up on offense.

i only got say one thing lin has done what Amare and Melo havnt been able to do all year………………. help the Knicks win 5 in a row baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! go new york go new york goooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow. We had NO business winning that game. Love killed us as always, that center was a freaking brute and Lin had no legs at all, but we hung around, hung around, and then Shump Shump and Novak somehow brought us back.

Some nights, ya gotta win ugly. I’ll take it.

Can you even recall the last time that the Knicks won a game that they had no right to win? So awesome.

alsep73:
Wow. We had NO business winning that game. Love killed us as always, that center was a freaking brute and Lin had no legs at all, but we hung around, hung around, and then Shump Shump and Novak somehow brought us back.

*sorry for the double posts apparently the phone was excited. Now to get the man’s name correct Spiro Dedes (the spelling may still be off).
What a win! This was a game the old Knicks would always find a way to lose. Seeing Novak interviews he said that was a play usually run for Melo but he thought he would try it. It wasn’t too long ago we were groaning about Novak taking a final sho.

I think Lin played the whole damn half, jeezus. Rubio outplayed him bad on the defensive end, makes me worry if he can bring it if they make the playoffs and the physicality increases. HOW DID THEY WIN? Great play out of the timeout for Novak 3. HAHA YESSSS SOUL CRUSH THOSE TWOLVES, SORRY KLOVE GO STEP ON MORE FACES DOUCHEBAG

Probaby the 2 games against Miami last year, especially the one at MSG in which we trailed by about 9 going into 4th quarter, were last games I can recall NYK winning in which it had no business….but they weren’t clearly outright highway robbery affairs like this theft tonight!!!

go ny go ny go!!!

Lin’s inspirational impact on this team is probably his most amazing gift!

Question: Why are we still switching every pick and roll? With a point guard like Rubio on the floor, you’re just basically giving him the option to take Chandler to the hole on every possession or dish to that beast Pecovic with a guard on him down low.

There a decent defenders on this team now (particularly Shump Shump). Why not just hedge, have the pg fight over the screen, and recover?

Because I couldn’t keep that pun to myself. In reality, I’m foolishly hopeful that Amar’e will fit right in when he gets back and later when ‘Melo returns, he will make some tweaks to enhance and not disrupt the offensive flow the Knicks have been showing.

Look, all this kind of anti-Amare and anti-Melo commentary (not too much, but enough to address) really is silly.
If Amare and Melo is out there, the spacing gets amazing. You may have been noticing Minni collapsing on Lin with sometimes three guys tonight. That happened because For a time our guys couldn’t hit the ocean. Also, Lin went from not playing to being the guy and doing 40 minutes a night. He’s exhausted.
Amare and Melo are going to face so much single coverage and wide open dishes, they are going to get 30 each on like 12 shots.
The idea that Jeffries and Walker is a better combo than Amare Melo is literally nuts.
Amare and Melo are literally salivating knowing they have a Pg who can pass and score.
I had a feeling if they hung around they’d find a way to steal it.

SSS: To be fair, Rubio dribbled one off his foot and the other really wasn’t a bad look from Love, though he wasn’t close.

Actually, to be fair, pressure made rubio dribble off is foot as he saw a 6’10 guy flying to cut off his angle and the on ball defender was in his face.
And Love did not have a good look. He was defended and his shot because of time and pressure was more like a prayer.

Frank O.:
Look, all this kind of anti-Amare and anti-Melo commentary (not too much, but enough to address) really is silly.
If Amare and Melo is out there, the spacing gets amazing. You may have been noticing Minni collapsing on Lin with sometimes three guys tonight. That happened because For a time our guys couldn’t hit the ocean. Also, Lin went from not playing to being the guy and doing 40 minutes a night. He’s exhausted.
Amare and Melo are going to face so much single coverage and wide open dishes, they are going to get 30 each on like 12 shots.
The idea that Jeffries and Walker is a better combo than Amare Melo is literally nuts.
Amare and Melo are literally salivating knowing they have a Pg who can pass and score.
I had a feeling if they hung around they’d find a way to steal it.

I agree. The only thing I’d say is that Jeffries is a FAR superior defender to Amar’e. The Knicks defense has seriously improved in Stoudemire’s absence.

BigBlueAL:
I dont know how people can question or be apprehensive about Melo returning when Bill Walker is playing as much as he is and as horrible as he is taking mainly Melo’s minutes.

I cant freaking wait to see this team with Amar’e and Melo back and hopefully in Melo’s case 100% healthy.

I’m sure all that Amare and Melo are thinking is that they can’t wait to get back on the court and dominate the offense, winning streak be damned. You know they’re all about personal stats and couldn’t care less about wins and losses. They wish Lin had never shown up, it means less shots for them.

Frank O.: Actually, to be fair, pressure made rubio dribble off is foot as he saw a 6’10 guy flying to cut off his angle and the on ball defender was in his face.
And Love did not have a good look. He was defended and his shot because of time and pressure was more like a prayer.

You guys are generous. I find it hard to call that Rubio turnover a forced one. I’m not saying they didn’t play well though – given their tired legs and the awful calls against them, its a minor miracle they hung close enough to steal one.

Robert Silverman: I agree. The only thing I’d say is that Jeffries is a FAR superior defender to Amar’e. The Knicks defense has seriously improved in Stoudemire’s absence.

Yeah. Jeffries won’t lose minutes, tho, when those guys return. I believe Mike D. Will run him at the 5, 4, and 3.
Sorry about my verbs. Talking to my son and typing isn’t the smartest writing technique. Lol
One other good thing: this stretch has so helped our bench and its confidence. Bobby and walker are only going to get few minutes, but Novak has moved up the depth chart. Shump is really taking to the two, and Jeffries has become more competent on offense. We found valuable pieces with these guys gone. Otherwise with hardly any practices, our subs suffered

Frank O.:
Look, all this kind of anti-Amare and anti-Melo commentary (not too much, but enough to address) really is silly.
If Amare and Melo is out there, the spacing gets amazing. You may have been noticing Minni collapsing on Lin with sometimes three guys tonight. That happened because For a time our guys couldn’t hit the ocean. Also, Lin went from not playing to being the guy and doing 40 minutes a night. He’s exhausted.
Amare and Melo are going to face so much single coverage and wide open dishes, they are going to get 30 each on like 12 shots.
The idea that Jeffries and Walker is a better combo than Amare Melo is literally nuts.
Amare and Melo are literally salivating knowing they have a Pg who can pass and score.
I had a feeling if they hung around they’d find a way to steal it.

You’re right about Amare. I’m sure he can’t wait to run with these guys. He’ll fit right in.
Then, Melo gets back . . . and the party’s over. Sorry, but I don’t think he can change his game.

jon abbey: one is that there’s no way this would last over time, reinforcements are very very welcome and thankfully coming soon.

So right. Lin carried the team offensively, with Chandler, but they can’t keep that up. You can’t have a small forward going 0 for the night, and your back up point one for four games. And then there is Jeffries.
No, a few big guns coming back is nice.

hoolahoop: You’re right about Amare. I’m sure he can’t wait to run with these guys. He’ll fit right in.
Then, Melo gets back . . . and the party’s over. Sorry, but I don’t think he can change his game.

He already had. Far fewer shots, more assists. Him playing his normal role will just be sweet. Trust came, man. Melo is going to be a 50%’shooter with Lin creating and the space he’ll have. You’ll be a convert.

jon abbey: one is that there’s no way this would last over time, reinforcements are very very welcome and thankfully coming soon.

That’s not the biggest lesson I got.
Team chemistry, trust, ball movement, selflessness, enthusiasm are more important than talent, but combine the two and you have a great team.
Selfish, iso, hero-ball is a perfect formula for ugly.

I’ve been saying this all along, but Mike D. Hasn’t been the problem. He’s been amazingly patient and adaptive. He believed in Jeffries and this team would not be winning like this without him. The work he did against the lakers frnt line was eye-opening. And he and Chandler kept so many alls alive for the Knicks tonight, I would say they won the game in the end.
Lin is showing how beautiful Mike D.’s system is.

Frank O.: He already had. Far fewer shots, more assists. Him playing his normal role will just be sweet. Trust came, man. Melo is going to be a 50%’shooter with Lin creating and the space he’ll have. You’ll be a convert.

@389, that is where Melo’s ISO game comes in. Right now when Lin goes to the bench the Knicks well suck. When Melo is back, Lin can rest and Melo can play hero ball all he wants and when Lin comes back in then Melo gets his easy jump shots from JLin passes.

The Knicks are good when all the players feel like they are in the game. When Melo and Amare go ISO, people stand around, they’re less engaged and they have trouble turning their energy up.
The ball needs to move no matter if Lin is in or not.

yes, but there was no choice and he did manage to draw the foul at the end. all of those early season losses made every win now that much more important, and the #6 seed should be the goal, presumably missing MIA/CHI in the first round then.

he has two days off now and a hopefully inspired Amare back, maybe even time for a practice on Monday. they do need to keep his minutes down, Baron still can’t get here soon enough.

Frank O.:
The Knicks are good when all the players feel like they are in the game. When Melo and Amare go ISO, people stand around, they’re less engaged and they have trouble turning their energy up.
The ball needs to move no matter if Lin is in or not.

KnickInSeattle:
Hoolahoop, I simply don’t believe that you want Melo to change his game.

It’s clear from your tone and attitude that you’d rather be right (I don’t think you are) than for the team to adjust and to win.

Number one, you’re 100% wrong. Number two, you make stupid comment after stupid comment showing how little you know about basketball, and I’ve never criticized you once.
And here you are, another idiot telling someone what they really believe. Go dive in the Seattle ocean

1) I rarely comment at all.
2) You spent much of last year criticizing me after I pointed out that you are often contentious and looking to cause strife.
3) There is no ocean in Seattle.
4) I’m not certain what’s selfish about what I did, which is simply state what I believe…that you’re more interested in snarky comments than results.